Anelie Sterling
by Monkog
Summary: Betrayed and lied to by her parents, Anelie goes through life not knowing about the mysterious illness that her father saved her from. Now, reeling from his death, she tries to come to terms with her abilities, meeting new allies and enemies alike. Eventual Loki/OC sexiness.
1. Valley Of Your Heart

_**The Cave -Mumford & Sons**_

_"It's empty in the valley of your heart  
The sun, it rises slowly as you walk  
Away from all the fears  
And all the faults you've left behind_

_The harvest left no food for you to eat  
You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see  
But I have seen the same  
I know the shame in your defeat"_

**2001**

"Hush, Anelie. Your father is working, and he needs it to be quiet."

"Okay Nanny Mueller." The little girl frowns dejectedly, having been caught in the act of knocking on her father's study door. "When can daddy play with me?"

The older dutch woman's stern frown softened. "Perhaps after dinner." She hates lying to the girl, but she knows Mr. Sterling is likely to stay in there for days. To say he hadn't reacted well to Mrs. Sterling's death, was an understatement. "Now, run along. Don't go making a mess, Fräulein."

As the little girl walks upstairs, the nanny shakes her head. Poor girl. After loosing her mother a little over a year ago, at the tender age of five, she was never the same. Would hardly speak at all, choosing to disappear for hours, exploring the many rooms of the house, as well as the gardens.

Nanny Mueller hardly worried at all when she was gone anymore, after a scare that had involved the police, only to find that she had gained access to the roof, and dozed off. Nobody could ever figure out how she had gotten up there, since there were no windows or openings that lead to the roof.

The house was large, consisting of three main floors, a basement and an attic. The first floor was an entire house in itself, complete with two bedrooms, the kitchen, laundry, etc. The next two floors had many bedrooms, each with it's own bathroom ensuite. The Sterling ancestors had used it as a hotel of some sorts, in the 1800s.

While undergoing renovation a few years back, the construction crew discovered a few passageways that weren't even in the original blueprints of the house.

While Nanny Mueller begins to prepare dinner, she happens to glance out of the window at the once-beautiful garden. A large, worn marble statue of an angel stands surrounded by wild roses in the center.

Then, Nanny Mueller sees a mop of curly brown hair appear from behind the statue, and nearly drops the glass pan in her hands. The last she had seen the little girl, she was heading upstairs, not outside. Nanny Mueller just shakes her head with a smile, continuing to watch the little girl pick a rose, her small fingers able to grasp the rose without getting pricked by the thorns.

She pulled a pair of kitchen scissors from her messenger bag, and quickly went about cutting a large bouquet of them. The same scissors that Nanny Mueller had just been using. They should even still be on the counter. But they aren't, of course.

"That girl.." The Nanny lightly grumbled. These antics were not uncommon in the household, blankets, food, and even furniture often going missing as soon as her back is turned.

She was quite the topic among the hired staff around the house, but knowing how fragile she is, they don't mention it around Mr. Sterling.

"Not that he'd care." The brash maid had said. Although the older staff said nothing, they couldn't deny how unattached Mr. Sterling had become from his beloved daughter.

* * *

The dinner had been set out, meticulously, by Nanny Mueller and the butler, Toby. To their astonishment, Mr. Sterling had requested that dinner be set up properly, in celebration of his latest breakthrough.

The younger maid, Tara, finally managed to round up Anelie, and they were placing a large bouquet of roses on the table when Mr. Sterling arrived.

"Daddy!" Anelie practically flew towards her father, who picked her up and swung her around. Tara shared an astonished look with the others. Anelie laughed and giggled, as if this was a regular occurrence.

"Hello, darling. Come on, everyone sit! This is a celebration!" He swung Anelie around again, before placing her on the seat to the right of the head of the table. After he sat down, he talked animatedly about his work. "I know I've been spending a lot of time working, at the office and home, but I promise to make it up to you, darling. How do you want to come in to the office with me tomorrow?"

Anelie nodded eagerly with her mouth full, digging into her plate like there was no tomorrow.

It was Tara who spoke up first. "No disrespect, Sir, but I don't believe that a lab is the best place for a little girl-"

"Nonsense. Anelie is smart and careful. She'll have fun." Mr. Sterling turned to Anelie. "Better to start teaching you about the company now, eh?"

"Really?" She asked. "That would be so much fun! What have you been working on?"

He just grinned. "You'll see tomorrow."

* * *

**AN: This is just the beginning of a story I've been working on for a while, and if you guys like it, I'll upload more! Reviews are welcome, but just following will prompt me to post some more. The rating is pretty low at the moment, but I hope to be moving up to a M rating at some point for sexiness. I'll let you guys know :) ~MJ**


	2. Something Tastes Bitter

**Die Alone ~ Ingrid Michaelson**

_"I woke up this morning with a funny taste in my head._  
_Spackled some butter over my whole grain bread._  
_Something tastes different, maybe it's my tongue._  
_Something tastes different, suddenly I'm not so young."_

* * *

That was the first night in months that he tucked her into bed, as Nanny Mueller watched from the doorway.

She couldn't help but acknowledge the uneasiness that had wrapped itself around her stomach.

* * *

Anelie was nervous. Dressed in her favorite green-striped dress with white tights, and her hair braided intricately by Tara, she sat on in the back seat of her father's car nervously watching the passing buildings in her rainy town.

"We're here!" Her father exclaimed. He helped her out and let her inside. After bypassing a few security checkpoints, he leads her into his lab.

"Hello Nathan. I didn't know you were coming in today." A older man with glasses glanced up from his microscope, addressing Nathan Sterling. He smiled warmly at Anelie "That can't be Anelie can it? My, you've grown!"

Nathan smiled absent-mindedly. "Darling, why don't you wait here for a bit? I'm going to step out a bit to talk to Ethan, okay?"

Anelie just nodded, and pulled herself up onto her father's padded chair to wait. She missed the significant look passed between the two men.

When Nathan and Ethan left, Anelie looked at the pictures on her father's desk. One was a vague drawing of the human anatomy, with small black X's covering it. One on each forearm, one on each thigh, on the heart and one on the temple. Another picture was schematics for some black bullet-shaped microchip, as far as Anelie could tell. Most of the words she didn't understand, but she understood far more than a normal girl her age.

There was a thick folder, with separate paperclip-ed files. The top one had a picture of a young man. Across the picture was a bright red stamp.

Anelie began to sound out the word in bright red, like Tara had taught her. "Ter-min-a-ted."

She stopped reading when she could hear yelling. She hastily closed the files and rearranged them, sliding off the chair and tiptoeing to the door that was slightly ajar.

"How could you..? To your own daughter? We're not even sure it would work!"

"It will. It has too. I'm not letting her go the same way as her mother, Ethan. I just can't."

"We don't know how bad it is yet.. She may not even have it! Give her some time. We'll test others. Make sure it's a hundred percent-"

"No. Now. I know it will. I fixed the problem if we just-"

Anelie gasped and brought her hand to her mouth. Her elbow banged on the edge of the door, causing the two doctors to look at her. She saw an opening between Ethan and the wall, and she took it.

Running as fast as her small legs could carry her, she booked it down the hallway as fast as she could. Her father called for her, and began to run after.

Ethan grasped his shoulder to stop him. Nathan threw a quick punch that knocked him out cold.

Anelie didn't get far. At Nathan's behest, a guard managed to restrain the little girl. She bit and clawed and kicked, but she was no match. A gurney was wheeled out of the medical room, and she was strapped down, still screaming.

Nathan unwrapped a hypodermic needle filled with a clear liquid and injected all of it into the writhing body on the gurney. She was still in a matter of moments.

Nathan pushed a flyaway lock of hair behind her ear. So beautiful and intelligent, like her mother, he thought. Wide blue eyes met his brown ones for a moment, before they blinked close.

"I hope, for her sake, that this works. That way she can kick your sorry ass." Ethan said from the doorway. He rubbed his jaw, grimly ready to set about the procedure.

* * *

It's cold in the lab when Anelie wakes up. Laying on a cold steel table, dressed only in hospital scrubs that dwarfed her small frame, she takes in her surroundings. She recognizes the room, since it's only separated from her father's office by a heavy metal door and a large window of three-inch-thick glass.

She quickly slid off of the table and attempted to open the door. Beside the lock, barely low enough for Anelie to reach, was a keypad, that required a four digit password to unlock. A small red light told her that it was locked.

Anelie experimentally pressed one of the numbers. A course of electricity passed through her finger and the keypad, and she pulled her hand back in surprise. The keypad emitted a low beep, and the light turned green. There was a click, and the door gave way, opening to an empty office. She shut the door behind her, so as not to arouse suspicion immediately.

Anelie went to the phone at her father's desk and dialed one of the only two numbers she knew.

"Hello Mr. Sterling. What can I do for you?"

Anelie's voice came out shaky. "T-Toby?"

The butler's surprise was evident in his voice. "What's wrong, Ana?"

"C-can you come get me? I'm still at dad's work."

"Sure thing. I'll be there in two minutes."

Anelie put the phone down when Toby hung up. She spotted a plastic bag on the floor with her dress in it. She quickly shed the scrubs and put her dress back on.

That was when she noticed the bandages. Big white squares of padding, one on each of her wrists, one on each of her thighs, and one over her heart.

And when she managed to part her wild mane of curls, there was a smaller bandage on the back of her head. She furiously ripped off the one on her left wrist.

A small blackened circle in the center of her wrist, surrounded by a dark blue pattern spider-webbing across her forearm, akin to lightning.

Voices in the hallway startled Anelie out of her inspection of the strange marks. She bolted behind the opening door.

"She should be waking up soon." That was her father's voice.

Ethan and Nathan both entered the room and crossed over to the large observation window. By the time they realized that she was gone, Anelie had already bolted down the hallway again, taking the familiar twists and turns to the front door. There were only a few people in the building, and those who saw her only smiled and carried on with their business.

Even the secretary just smiled as Anelie ran to the door, pushing it open with all her might and slipping past the guard on duty.

She recognized the town car, parked in front of the building a few feet from where she was standing. She didn't wait for Toby to open the door for her, and wasted no time in throwing herself in the back seat.

Toby just looked at the terrified face in the back mirror, and started driving wordlessly. He drove as fast as the law would allow, taking the long driveway up the house at breakneck speed.

By the time he stopped in front of the house, Anelie was fast asleep. Toby carried her inside the house quickly.

"Mein fräulein! Tobais, what happened?" Nanny Mueller opened the door for the butler, and led them inside.

"I have no idea, M. She called from the office, and she sounded so scared." Toby set Anelie down in her bed.

"And what about Mr. Sterling?"

Toby stepped back, addressing Nanny Mueller. "Didn't ask."

Tara was walking down the hallway when she heard them speak. "What's going on?" She asked as she walked into the room. It wasn't long before she saw the white of the bandages on Anelie's wrists. She carefully knelt by the side of the bed, and lift up one of the white squares that Anelie had hastily reapplied. "Oh my goddess. I swear, when Mr. Sterling gets back-"

"You will do no such thing." Nanny Mueller cut her off. "It is none of our business."

Toby nodded slowly, but Tara huffed and crossed her arms defiantly. "Fine." She stormed out of the room to finish the laundry.

"You really think that's best?" Toby asked.

"I hope so."

* * *

_"What have I become?  
Something soft and really quite dumb.  
Because I've fallen, oh, 'cuz I've fall-fallen, oh 'cuz I've fall-fall-fallen  
So far away from the place where I started from."_


	3. I Barely Know Who I Am

_"There are 7 billion people on this planet who I have not met, and 195 countries I have not visited, _

_Yet I am stuck in this insignificant town, Being pressured into making decisions about my future, _

_When I barely even know who I am." _

_-Unknown (via .com)_

* * *

**~~~12 years later~~~**

Anelie perched on the edge of the large bookshelves in her father's office, watching the unsuspecting EMT s pull a sheet over the body.

She was dressed in a flowing white dress that went down to her swinging feet. The bottom of the dress was dirty and torn, and her bare feet were covered with dirt and tiny scratches. As the EMT s pushed the gurney outside, Anelie quickly stood on a low-hanging ceiling beam, and with an agility that came with years of practice, she ghosted across the narrow beam to an opening in the wood.

She followed the twists in the passage, coming out of a linen closet at the top of the stairs. She ran to the second floor balcony in time to see the EMT s wheel the body into the truck, have a few words with Toby, and drive away.

A younger blonde woman sitting on the steps raised her head in time to see Anelie disappear inside with a flurry of white.

"I'm going to find Anelie." Tara said, standing quickly. After a few minutes of calling around upstairs, Tara found her in the attic.

Groups of boxes were arranged into a large semicircle, hidden by a towering wall of storage boxes and furniture. Near the back of the semicircle was a small bench that had gone missing a few years ago, covered in, and surrounded by, piles of blankets, towels, and stuffed animals.

A few broken picture frames were propped up under the bench and a couple of the pictures were held together with tape, and tacked up across the boxes. Tara picked up one of the shattered picture frames, running her pale finger over the smiling faces of the family.

* * *

_Tragedy had swept through the house like a hurricane when Mrs. Sterling had passed away. The air had a heavy, tangible quality to Tara, hanging around the family like a cloud. _

_Tara pulled the trash can out from under Mr. Sterling's desk. Lying shattered and broken, was a picture frame of Mr. and Mrs. Sterling with a much younger Anelie. _

_So happy and carefree. _

_Tara picked up the picture frame, picking out the broken pieces of the glass, and tucked it into her apron. When she had finished straightening out Mr. Sterling's office, she found Anelie sitting at the top of the stairs. Just sitting, staring down the hallway below her. Directly at the room her mother had been staying in while she was 'recovering' from her treatment. _

_Tara sat down next to her. She didn't move. _

_Tara pulled the frame out of her apron pocket, and handed it to Anelie. "Here. Don't tell your father." Tara had noticed that any picture of Mrs. Sterling that Mr. Sterling had come across had mysteriously ended up in the trash. Tara had begun to expect them, always giving them to Anelie when she found them. _

_The five-year-old took the glasses-less frame, tracing her fingers over her mother's face. She hugged the picture to her chest, quickly hugged Tara, and disappeared up the stairs. _

* * *

Tara placed the picture back in it's spot. She happened to glance up into the dusty support beams that ran across the attic, almost 10 feet off the ground.

Anelie sat on the widest one, her dirty, bare feet swung back and forth, sitting with her back to Tara. She was watching her hand intently, as her fingers sparkled with electricity. She stopped when Tara started speaking.

"You know, I never could figure out how you get up there. Why don't you come down?"

Anelie pushed herself off of the beam, landing on her heap of blankets in a crouched position, to absorb the shock. She stood silently, staring at Tara with wide, surprisingly expressive blue eyes.

Tara took in her dirty appearance. Her hair was unwashed, tangled with leaves and twigs, and it hung to slight hips, covering the left side of her face.

There was a dirt stripe across her forehead, where she had probably rubbed her forehead unknowingly. Tara recognized the dirty, torn dress as one of the many dresses Nanny M. had stored in the attic after Mrs. Sterling had passed away. Her feet were dirty and bloody, covered in scratches, no doubt from the roses in the garden that had gone out of control.

Tara put her hands her hips and tsked in a way Nanny M. would be proud of. "That won't do. Come on, lets get you cleaned up. The authorities are coming by tomorrow to talk about what happened to your f-" A strange look came upon Anelie's face. "-Mr. Sterling, and Toby has set up a meeting with the lawyers today."

"I hate the lawyers." Anelie said, letting herself be led away from the attic by Tara, who laughed.

"I'll draw up a bath, and then we'll work on that hair." Tara started the bath, leaving Anelie to her own devices. She met with the other two hired staff outside of Anelie's room. "She spent the night outside again, I can tell. But she- sort of- agreed to see the lawyers."

While they never really understood what happened to Anelie twelve years ago, Anelie became increasingly silent and only came out of hiding to attend her advanced college classes, and the important tests. At the age of eighteen, she already had two degrees, even though she only showed up for major tests. She never was able to be in the same room with her father, without starting like a wild animal every time he moved.

More than a few times, one of them would find her curled up beneath the marble angel in the garden, fast asleep after an encounter like that. They figured that the angel reminded Anelie of her mother, so they didn't say anything about it, especially to Mr. Sterling.

"What did the paramedics say?" Tara asked.

"Stroke. Right at his desk." Toby said. "They said he had probably been dead since last night."

Secretly, they all believed it was long over due.

* * *

After Anelie had emptied the tub and put on a robe, Tara assessed the damage. Tara feared Anelie's hair would never be the same, but that quickly took a backseat to the dark purple that had blossomed across her pale, left cheek. Tara pushed the dark brown hair out of the way, tracing her fingers across the distinct hand print, not missing the way Anelie flinched and looked down, biting her bottom lip.

Tara saw red. If Mr. Sterling wasn't dead already...

"Oh goddess. What happened?" Tara knew, but she wanted to give her a chance to get it all out.

Anelie just shook her head, continuing to stare at her feet. Tara pulled the smaller girl into her arms, and she could feel her sobbing into Tara's shoulder. When it seemed that she had cried herself all out, Tara pushed her back to look at the bruise again.

"I'll need a lot of make up to cover this up."

* * *

After about an hour of working on Anelie's hair, Nanny Mueller put the brush down in frustration.

"Tara, be a dear and get me my knitting scissors. I'm going in."

* * *

After getting her hair down to a manageable shoulder-length, they quickly finished brushing out her curls. Tara braided it around to her left shoulder so it covered the barely visible bruise. Anelie put on a dark blue blouse with black slacks, with actual shoes, and stuffed a pair of leather gloves into her pocket.

She sat silently in the back seat of the town car, staring down at her hand again. She wiggled them experimentally, and they flickered with an electric blue light, and emitted a low crackling noise when the blue light jumped between fingers, like one of those nebula balls she had when she was little.

She spent most of her time hiding practicing conjuring the electricity in her fingertips.

She somehow managed to shortcircut a few of the appliances over the last twelve years. They were replaced eventually, but Anelie quickly learned not to touch them directly until she could control it.

In a rage, she had accidentally split an entire tree in half once, right down the middle. Hey, we're not all perfect.

The pair of leather gloves in Anelie's pocket had gone missing from her father's closet some years ago, and it wasn't an accident.

She slipped on the pair of gloves as they pulled up to the lawyer's office early, despite Nanny Mueller's insistence she was going to be late. Toby opened the door for her, like usual, and offered her his hand.

"When shall I be back?" Toby asked.

Anelie took a good look at him in what seemed like ages. The last twelve years has aged him, between constantly worrying about her, and taking care of most of her father's affairs. Without warning, she hugged his still-muscular frame.

"I'll call you." Anelie yelled as she walked into the building.

An older, plump woman sat behind the desk. "Can I help you, dear?"

Anelie took a deep breath. She had been forced into some social contact over the past few years, but she was nervous. "I'm Anelie Sterling. I'm here to see Mr. Walker."

The secretary moved her glasses farther up onto her nose, looking her up and down. She adjusted her loud flower-print blouse, before addressing Anelie. "Oh yes. He is expecting you. I'm so sorry about your father, dear. Just go through that door, first door on the left."

Anelie walked away without replying. _Don't be sorry,_ she thought. _I don't miss him one bit._

* * *

**AN: Hey guys! Thanks for waiting so patiently. Since I have a good 20 chapters already written, I'm going to try and post one every Sunday(?) and on Wednesdays if I can. Tell me what you think!**


	4. Dark Surprise

"It is a curious thing, the death of a loved one. We all know that our time in this world is limited, and that eventually all of us will end up underneath some sheet, never to wake up."

* * *

"According to your father's will, in the event of his passing, the entire estate, all possessions contained thereof, as well as the entire fortune, shall be given to you. He has also recently amended that in the event of his passing, and you being of legal age, that you have full run and possession of SterlingTech. If you would, just sign these papers."

Anelie did. There was some other legal jargon that she hardly payed attention to, but then it was done.

"Alright." Mr. Walker laced his finger together, is tone turning serious. "I have no doubt that the police will be questioning you about the circumstances of you father's death, given that you inherit everything. As your legal counsel, I suggest you deny everything." He smiled, letting her know he was only partly kidding. "They cannot legally question you without your lawyer present, of course, so call me if you need anything."

Anelie nodded, looking down at the stack of papers she had signed. "I will. If we're all done here..?" Mr. Walker nodded, standing up to open the door for her. Anelie thanked him and left, calling Toby to come get her.

Anelie didn't mean to kill her father.

His fault, really, for giving her these freaky powers.

Anelie had gone into his study. She didn't really know why, she just did. She wanted answers. Naturally, the conversation had blown into an argument within a few minutes. He had slapped her.

He immediately calmed down, but the damage was done. He sat at his desk, apologizing profusely. All Anelie had to do was touch his exposed arm, and he was convulsing in his chair.

Stroke, the official coroner's report had said. Sure.

But he was gone. Anelie searched long and hard for any remorse or guilt, but found only relief and a feeling of safety she hadn't had in years.

The officers questioned her about it, of course, as Mr. Walker had predicted. But Anelie mustered up enough grief and anger to have the officers backtracking instantly.

And they could never prove anything, either.

* * *

"Sterling residence." Tara said, answering the phone. She listened for a few moments before responding. "Yes well, I'm afraid that I'm not sure where she is- But I'll look. It might be a few minutes." Tara presses a button on the phone and turned to go up the stairs, only to nearly collide with Anelie. "Goddess, stop doing that ghost-thing."

Anelie smiled, and stepped towards Tara. "Sorry. Habit."

It had been three weeks since Anelie buried her father. The improvement on the brunette has been noticed by all, from her family to the mailman, who had been greeted with a large plate of cookies everyday since.

She went shopping, cooked, even went to some high-class dinner party in place of her father, silently accepting hugs and condolences, as if she was still daddy's little girl. She had three brunch invitations, and another dinner party lined up next week.

Anelie took the phone. "Anelie Sterling speaking."

_"Hello, Ms. Sterling. My name is Phil Coulson," _Anelie recognized that name. _"I would like to set up an appointment to meet with you about.. Well, I'm sure you understand that this is a matter of some privacy." _

Anelie carried the phone upstairs to the study. "Right. _Phil_. From the shield thing. Alright, my interest is piqued. When are you free?"

_"Tomorrow, around noon?"_

Anelie lifted up a box from the floor, plopping it down on the desk. "Sounds good. See ya at the office." She mumbled, pressing the end call button.

The box contained most of the transactions between SterlingTech and just about everywhere else.

Anelie flipped past a receipt for one-hundred and four sandwiches, dated just around the time she was born. Behind was a page, that outlined a grant from a company "Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division ", or S.H.I.E.L.D., as her father's sticky note across the top of the file indicated. All of the rest of the information was in the lab vault.

The grant allowed them nearly a hundred billion dollars for a project called "ElectroHumans".

"Oh _so_ original." Anelie said sarcastically to the empty study/

She shoved the box back into it's spot, and booted up her father's sleek laptop. It took her less than a minute hack the computer.

_Update tech security. _She added to her mental list.

A bit of surfing through a considerable amount of trivial stuff, Anelie found the files containing all of the ElectoHuman information. File upon file on each person who was tested on. All of them dead or dying. Accept her.

She should of been disturbed by all of this information, but she wasn't. She only felt a rush of revulsion towards her father when she found the files about her.

Except everything was completely ambiguous, not a mention of her name or even the gender of the patient.

_'...patient extremely responsive to treatment. No fatal damage to the neural tissues has been observed, although the patient appears to not notice minor cuts and bruises. All other observable senses seem heightened, but the patient refuses to be tested upon or otherwise interacted with. The mental cost of the procedure is preferable, though, to what could have happened without it.'_

And that was the last entry. Anelie had no idea what her father could have been talking about.

'_ The mental cost of the procedure is preferable, though, to what could have happened without it.'_

But she remembered how she had avoided her father, refusing to even speak to him or be in his presence for longer than it took to leave the room.

She opened up the schematics of the of the 'E-chips', that she remembered from so long ago. They haven't changed much.

There were also strange and complex formulas for some type of serum. A serum that wrapped the 'power' thing up with a little bow. Allowed the electricity to flow throw a person with out killing them. But it didn't work on anyone accept her. All of the other patients died within minutes, others longer, but Nathan had never been able to figure out a link between Anelie, and other patients that had survived longer than the others.

Anelie looked at the clock. It was nearly one am, so she decided to call it a night. She shut the laptop off, placing it in the desk, and leaving the study.

She disappeared into the linen closet by the stairs, pressing open the false back of one of the shelves. Anelie slid feet first through the shelf, pulling the door closed behind her. Behind the linen closet was a small landing, that led to an empty shaft. Boards were hammered every half-foot or so creating a makeshift ladder from the basement, all the way up to the attic bathroom, otherwise thought of as the only room she felt comfortable in. All of her mother's stuff was up there, and her father couldn't bear to enter the attic, even to talk to Anelie.

She crawled out from the under the sink, securing the false bottom of the cabinet. She climbed a carefully set up series of boxes, until she was tiptoeing across the largest, tallest beam of the ceiling.

She took the book that she had left up there, and lay across the wide beam on her stomach, and began to read a biography of Michael Faraday.

* * *

"..And yet it is always a surprise when it happens to someone we know. It is like walking up the stairs to your bedroom in the dark, and thinking there is one more stair than there is. Your foot falls down, through the air, and there is a sickly moment of dark surprise as you try and readjust the way you thought of things."

~Lemony Snicket~


	5. Missing Links And Vigilantes

_**She's A Rebel ~ Green Day**_

_"She's a rebel  
She's a saint  
She's salt of the earth  
And she's dangerous_

She's a rebel  
Vigilante  
Missing link on the brink  
Of destruction"

* * *

Despite her complete abhorrence of the place, Anelie felt somewhat excited to go back to the lab. Her overwhelming curiosity trumped any negative feeling she had to the place, especially considering that the previous owner is six feet under.

She took her own car today; a black Mercedes convertible (no doubt a by-product of her father's guilt) that she had been given shortly after getting her driver's license. Through dusty backwoods and barely there gravel roads, she was able to drive as recklessly as she pleased until she reached SterlingTech. After grabbing the briefcase, Anelie tossed the keys at a somewhat familiar security guard and made her way inside.

The secretary looked up from her crossword as Anelie approached the desk.

"What can I do for you, An- Ms. Sterling?"

"Anelie is fine. I have an appointment at noon with Phil Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. Send him on back when he gets here."

"Yes Ms- Anelie." But she was already walking away, making her way to her father's lab.

Well, _her _lab, now.

Anelie trailed her finger across the keypad, not bothering to swipe her card or put in the PIN. The door unlocked with a beep.

She shouldered a lab coat on, attaching her I.D. card to the pocket. Anelie turned the radio on to fill the empty silence, tuning it to a good station.

She had only meant to spend an hour looking through her father's paperwork for the E-Tech, but by the time noon rolled around, she was buried underneath stacks of paperwork.

Anelie sat cross legged in the middle of the large table in the lab, surrounded by papers. So when the phone rang, she was forced to perch precariously on the edge of the paperless-circle, with one hand on the edge of the table, and the other holding the phone to her ear.

"Mr. Coulson is on his way back."

"Alright. Thanks." Anelie hung up the phone, retreating back to the center of the table to decide the best course of action to get down.

Her door opened, just as 'I Want You To Want Me' by Cheap Trick began to play on the radio. Phil Coulson, as well as two others, who were vaguely familiar to Anelie, walked into the lab as she nervously tugged her sleeves down.

After a while, the hole where the microchip had been inserted heeled over. But the blue lightning pattern remained, steadily spreading father up her arms, legs, and across her chest and neck. So Anelie wore a black turtleneck, with black slacks underneath her lab coat with her hair down, so as not to arouse suspicion.

Anelie hastily pushed papers out of her way and got off the table, moving to turn off the radio.

"Sorry, I was just looking over the paperwork. Got a bit lost." Anelie smiled.

She missed the goatee-d man give the other a significant look. _Another bag-full-of-cats-crazy scientist._

Phil just smiled politely, introducing his colleagues. "This is Tony Stark," Anelie shook their hands, "And Bruce Banner. And when I say colleagues, of course I mean geniuses who hacked our servers and _insisted_ on coming. They will be assisting you in your research, should you choose to carry on in your father's footsteps."

Of course, Anelie had read a lot about both scientists, an inevitable feet in this day and age for someone even remotely interested in physics and engineering, which Anelie was.

Tony Stark was defensive immediately. "It's not _my_ fault your firewall is a piece of shit."

Phil just rolled his eyes. "And that is exactly what I will be working on when this is over."

Anelie gestured to the seats on the other side of her desk, and sat down in the heavily padded chair. "I've looked at all of my father's research, and I'm not going to lie. I'm interested. But what makes you think I can do what my father couldn't? And no doubt, countless scientists along side him."

Phil crossed his arms. "I have only heard extremely high praise about your intellectual ability. I am quite assured that you can do it. Your father was quite proud. "

Anelie crossed her arms as well, only in a more defensive manner. "I bet."

Tony looked back and forth from Phil and Anelie, taking in her appearance and gestures. "No disrespect, but you look like you barely finished high school with daddy issues. This isn't child's play."

Anelie smiled sardonically. "What were you doing when you were eighteen?"

"Finishing my second degree in college." Tony bragged, with a smug grin Anelie would just love to get rid of.

Anelie bit her lip, trying to hide a smile. "I tested out of high school when I was thirteen and I have a bachelors in engineering, and a master's in medical science. Rest assured, I think I know what I'm doing, daddy issues be damned."

Tony just nodded, sufficiently chastised. Bruce chuckled quietly.

Phil cleared his throat. "So you'll do it?"

"Oh yeah."

* * *

Anelie placed the individual files in a row on the table. "These," She indicated, tapping the largest stack with her index finger, "are all the patients ever tested on, in chronological order. Patient profiles, details on what formulas were used, etcera. These are the all of schematics for the microchip, from the first prototype to the most recent." She held up a plastic test tube with a the small black microchip. Barely the size of your pinky nail, and conical in shape. "The microchips are placed in contact with all at least one major artery or vein in each of the legs, arms, one near the heart, and one somewhere on the temple. This serum," Anelie tapped another stack of papers. "Is injected into the blood stream. Once the chips are activated, it allows electricity to flow throughout the body harmlessly. In theory. But apparently, testing had given mixed results. The 'patients," _victims, _"have had varying responses. Most often than not, they die within a few hours, even minutes of activating the microchips. Some have lasted days, but the conclusion has always been the same."

While Anelie explained the gist of the project, she debated internally about mentioning Patient 42. Her. Since they would come across it eventually, she relented.

"All but one. Patient 42 appeared to have thrived after the treatment." She pulled out that file. It had no name, age, or even gender of the patient, and was pretty generic besides. "Only, we don't know who it was. No name, address, or even gender or age. My father never would say who. Or why it worked, for that matter. Perhaps he didn't know himself."

Bruce took the folder from Anelie's outstretched hand, with Tony peering over his shoulder. "Or he didn't want anyone to know. Was that the last patient?"

Anelie leaned against the table, and rubbed her temple with one hand. "I wish I cold tell you yes. Patient 42 received treatment in 2001. There has been a combined total of seventy-three people over the past eighteen years. Each treated in batches of four, two men and two women, aside from #42. He or she was treated a few weeks before the 2001 batch."

Tony flipped open the folder and looked at the plans for the microchip. "They haven't updated this in some time."

The gears in Anelie's head have turned on that since the day before. "I imagine that they didn't need to. The problem isn't the chip. It works for it's designed purpose perfectly, as far they could tell."

Tony flipped through the file some more. "It's designed to create the electricity. That must be painful. You know, when it doesn't work."

"Not really." Anelie said on impulse. "I-I mean, because it fries the nerves almost instantly. Convulsions, burns, and memory loss have been also been reported. Then the internal organs and the rest of the brain are effectively cooked." She had, herself, experienced the nerve damage. She could hardly feel pain at all, which allowed her to jump down from roofs and trees without so much as wincing. Or notice when her feet get scratched and cut. _But my internal organs were just fine, _she thought defiantly.

Both of the scientists winced. Bruce began to look at the serum. "And this was designed to conduct the electricity without being fatal."

Anelie nodded. "It's like a Faraday Cage. For your insides. In theory, the chips should also be able to utilize brain waves in order to control the electricity. But no one has lived long enough to see if that part actually works." Anelie grabbed a pair of disposable gloves, and walked over to the separate lab area. The same room she had woken up in after her 'treatment' twelve years ago. Quickly putting in the password, Anelie walked up to a large cabinet. The cabinet had a sample of every serum variation, each labeled neatly and stored in air tight containers, as well as a few of every kinds of microchips. "These are every variation of the serum and microchip every made, from the most recent to the prototypes." One of the capsules held the first ever version of the microchip. A large, bulky piece of metal that made Anelie's skin crawl.

Tony seemed the same way. "And they put that monstrosity into a human being?"

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "Because it's _so _much bigger than the arc reactor."

Tony elbowed Bruce with a significant glance at Anelie. She didn't press the issue.

"They never used this on anyone. This was just to see if they could to it." Anelie pushed the drawer and cabinet closed. "Questions?"

Bruce shook his head no, looking thoughtful. Tony raised his hand.

That brought a smile from Anelie. "Yes, Tony?"

"Where's a good place to eat?"

* * *

**AN: So sorry for my lateness! I've been furiously NaNoWriMo-ing for a few days. This story has over 17,000 words, but most of these filler chapters are highlighted in my word doc for 'revisions' I was too lazy to figure out when I was writing. Love you guys!**


	6. Can Never Get Those Years Back

_XX"One thing that people keep on saying to me is that the wealth and the fame must have made up for missing out on my childhood. But the idea of money- putting a price on your childhood- is ridiculous."XX_

* * *

The cafeteria on the second floor was actually pretty good, with gourmet chefs coming in everyday to make sandwiches, soups, and something special around lunch. Since it was around closing time, the room was nearly empty. A table of security guards and a few scientists that did the majority of the other projects for the company stopped their conversation, some mid sentence, just to watch her enter. When they saw the two people entering behind her, some of them began to whisper excitedly while still casting suspicious glances at the new company owner.

While Anelie pretended not to notice, Bruce and Tony sure did. When they had all three sat down with their food, Tony was the first to say something.

"Why do they seem afraid of you?"

Taking a nonchalant sip of Coke, Anelie pretended to struggle for a reason. "Oh right. They think I murdered my father." Anelie chuckled at Bruce and Tony's spluttering, and drummed her finger on the table. "Not that I blame them. I'm smart enough to do it and get away with it, of course. Plenty of money to be made, being an orphan over eighteen years old."

Tony looked at her incredulously. "A 'No, I loved my father very much' response might be a better option, if you happened to get arrested. You know, just in case."

Anelie shrugged. "Alive or dead, I couldn't care less. I'm not power hungry, or even remotely revenge-stricken. I had no reason to kill him."

"Revenge? For what?" Bruce interjected, speaking for both of the men at the table.

"Oh you know. The usual. Spending more time at work than at home. Neglecting his only family member in favor of.. well, in favor of this." She gestured vaguely at the building around her. "In favor of experimenting on people. Killing them."

"What happened to your mother?" Tony asked as delicately as he was capable of.

Another sip of Coke. "Cancer. When I was little."

After that, they decided to get plenty of rest, and they went their separate ways. Anelie, to her home, and the guys back to New York City, to stay at the "Avenger's HQ" as they referred to it. NYC is only an hours drive from there.

Anelie drove home with the radio turned up, singing loudly to the music. When she got home, The house was deserted.

Deciding to make the best of this opportunity, Anelie changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top, and walked outside into the muggy twilight. Anelie knew the forecast for tonight would be thunderstorms, so she trudged barefoot through the garden, that had long since gone wild lacking her mother's loving touch. She sprinted across the grass, laughing with exhilaration, until she met the line of trees. Some of the property encompassed the surrounding forest, which was perfect for Anelie.

She came across a large clearing, devoid of trees and plants. The only tree that had remained in the clearing was split down the middle, one half laying across the ground. Anelie stood in the dirt, palms outstretched. She could feel the energy coursing through her veins, literally.

With a little effort and concentration, large bolts of lightning shot from her palms directly into the sky. It immediately started pouring rain, with large peals of thunder coming from the east.

Anelie stayed out there for an hour, shooting lightning into the sky. Wondering what sort of technology could do something this amazing, yet dangerous.

Anelie began to aim at the tree, shooting smaller, more concentrated bolts at specific points in the abused tree.

Anelie return to the house, sweating and soaked in rain water, feet muddy from her sprint back to the house. She entered the house through the basement, through a small opening behind the little-used chimney. Through the basement she was able to make her way to her bedroom with minimal mud prints.

After a long, hot shower, she changed into comfortable jammies, and went in search of something to eat. She found Nanny Mueller in the kitchen, just pulling a batch of cookies out of the oven.

Sneaking past Nanny M., she was just about to swipe one of the cookies when she was spotted.

"Hands off, Anelie." Nanny M. said in her stern German accent. "They're still hot."

Anelie just smiled and sat at the table. Nanny M. knew more than she let on, always knowing how hungry Anelie would be after one of her "runs".

Nanny M. set a plate of cookies down in front of Anelie, and a glass of milk that Anelie devoured with a childlike abandon.

"Thanks, Nanny Mueller." Anelie said around her last cookie.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, fräulein."

"Sorry."

* * *

Anelie was sitting at her desk, looking through the files on her father's computer. Tony and Bruce were looking through all of the physical files, asking Anelie questions every once in a while. Anelie sang softly to her CD playing on the stereo.

Anelie began to read about the 2001 batch.

Most of them lived significantly longer than the others, but they were comatose for nearly three days.

"Who is the man who helped your father? His name comes up a bit in the earlier files. Some guy named Ethan?" Bruce tapped the paper he was holding.

Anelie looked up from the laptop like he had just discovered the solution to String Theory.

"He's worked with my dad since well, forever. I-" She struggled to come up with an adequate way to describe the situation without giving much away, "I think they had some sort of falling out a while ago. I don't even know if he still works here." Anelie practically threw the laptop at the desk, reaching for her I.D. card and throwing open the office door. Bruce and Tony looked at each other, both standing quickly and following Anelie into the hallway.

She vaguely remembered him coming to the house on several occasions, even venturing into the attic to attempt to appease his own conscience.

Anelie slid to a stop in front of the front desk, the secretary making a startled 'eep' at her presence.

Making a quick scan of her name card, Anelie placed her palms on the desk with a light smack. "Marge? Does Ethan still work here?"

Marge furrowed her brow in confusion. "Of course. He never left, dear. Same office as always."

Anelie took off abruptly again, with two confused geniuses trailing in her wake.

Several turns later, Anelie stopped in front of Ethan's office. She was suddenly nervous. Taking a deep breath, she swiped her card, knocking on the edge of the door as she walked in.

When Ethan saw her, he immediately took off his glasses, polished them on his shirt, and put them back on. He sat back on his chair heavily. "Good lord."

Tugging the edge of her sleeve down, not even realizing that she was doing it, Anelie tried to pretend that it wasn't awkward. "Hey, Ethan."

Ethan sighed heavily. He didn't address the two behind Anelie, he just rubbed his temple briefly before responding. "You know I won't help you with what you're doing. I told Nathan-"

"I- I know. I-" She looked at the two behind her. "_We_, have questions. Please?"

Ethan, burdened by years of guilt over what they had done to her, couldn't help but to relent. "Fine. I take it you want to know about your father's mystery patient?"

Anelie nodded, but her eyes said no.

Ethan smiled, trying to let her know he understood. "Nathan never actually told me who she was. But she was a little girl, couldn't have been more than seven or eight."

Or six, Anelie thought.

"But she was dying." Ethan said. Anelie froze. "She had a hereditary disease, that was incurable. Only a handful of people have been actually diagnosed with it in the last twenty years, with a fifty-fifty chance of passing it down to their children. Nathan believed the 'treatment' would cure it. And it worked." Ethan stared down at his desk as he muttered, "Crazy bastard." He looked back up. "I stopped working on that certain project after that."

"What disease?" Bruce asked.

"It doesn't actually have a name. Nathan compiled a bit of information on it, though."

"I think I can find it. Thanks, Ethan." Anelie said. They retreated back to her lab, all silent.

For a while, at least. As Anelie searched through the laptop, Tony fired away.

"Well, if it's so rare it should be easy to narrow down then. A girl, probably around nineteen or twenty, whose mom or dad was diagnosed with whatever this disease is."

Bruce watched Anelie stare at the computer. Something was bugging him; something he should be remembering. "But what then? Will the treatment only work on people with this disease?"

Anelie interrupted their talk by reading. '''The disease mimics the symptoms and signs of a few types of cancer, and is often not completely recognized until...' Well, until it's too late. 'It will eventually begin to attack the red blood cells, though the virus itself can be identified in the blood since birth.' Some people can go their whole lives without knowing they have it, or die before their twenties. It isn't contagious, though."

There was a picture of how to find it in the blood, and a paper on it written by a doctor, who did a study on it in 1999.

There was a list of seven people, all who were diagnosed and probably long dead, that Nathan had investigated. Anelie's mother, Cathryn Sterling, was second to last, but neither Bruce nor Tony seemed to notice.

Nathan had gathered a bit of research about the virus, but he lacked any actual contact with anyone infected. Aside from Anelie, of course, but Anelie made it near impossible for her father to so much as draw her blood.

Anelie heard the two men talking, arguing probably, but she wasn't listening. She stood from the chair, walking to the far counter against the large window to the other room. She slipped on a pair of disposable gloves, and found a syringe in one of the drawers. She checked to see if they were still not paying attention, then lifted up her sleeve to reveal her scars. Underneath the blueish pattern of lightning, it was hard to distinguish a vein, but she managed.

She drew blood from her wrist with a practiced precision, although she had never done it on herself before, and slapped a band-aid on it quickly. While turning on the microscope, Anelie pulled her sleeve back down. She put a few drops of blood on a slide, and slid it into it's spot. It looked more like her red blood cells were statically charged, more than anything, and even that was hardly noticeable. Nothing abnormal.

Anelie wiped away the evidence, putting everything into the waste disposal container. The other two didn't even notice, so wrapped up in their discussion.

"We should tell Phil. He'd want to know." Bruce commented.

Anelie nodded to herself. "Good idea." At this point, only a major error on Agent Coulson's part could keep Anelie from being discovered. But there was no way to stop it, at this point. Anelie picked up the phone off of the desk, and called him. It only took a few minutes to convince him to drop what he was doing and head down. While Bruce and Tony were talking, Anelie excused herself to the bathroom.

While Anelie looked at herself in the mirror, she thought about what she had learned. Her mother's strange illness was news to her, but since her father was very good at lying to her, Anelie wasn't surprised that he would keep that from her. Especially since she was supposedly dying.

But she wasn't anymore, of that Ethan seemed to be certain.

And Agent Coulson probably knew about her the entire time, smug bastard. Knew that the only person her father _wouldn't_ sell out to S.H.I.E.L.D. was his beloved daughter.

Anelie gripped the edge of the sink, knuckles white with effort. Rolling up her sleeves, Anelie splashed her face with water.

All that time spent hating her father, he had only done it to save her. Not that it made any difference now, since she killed him.

Anelie dried off and unrolled her sleeves and walked slowly back to her office.

Bruce had known something was up from the beginning, but this new information clicked all the puzzle pieces into place. "What other little girl did he have access to? Think about it, you know he would never sell out his dau-"

Bruce and Tony froze when Anelie entered, looking up at her, watching her, as she silently went to sit at her desk and stare at the papers on her desk, pretending to read them.

Anelie just ignored them.

They took in the way she sub-consciously pulled her sleeves down, nervously checking that her light blue turtleneck was doing it's job. The two shared a look, then looked down at their phones.

_**But why would that Ethan guy lie? -T**_

_**Probably the same reason he stopped working on this project. He felt guilty. -B**_

_**Why didn't she say anything? -T**_

_**Because she's smart. Would you go around telling every one about your superpowers? -B**_

… _**-T**_

_**Stupid question. But you know what I mean. S.H.I.E.I.D would tear her apart for the secret to how it works. -B**_

_**They wouldn't. She's just a kid. -T**_

_**Never mind. They probably would. -T**_

Anelie sighed in frustration, and turned on the radio to fill the silence.

"_All you gotta do is plug me into high__  
__I said high__  
__High voltage rock 'n' roll__  
__High-"_

It took all of two seconds for Anelie to change the song, but Tony was already suppressing laughter.

"_Darling you gotta let me know  
Should I stay or should I go?  
If you say that you are mine  
I'll be here til the end of time  
So you got to let know  
Should I stay or should I go?"_

Anelie continued to pretend to read the papers on her desk, humming along to The Clash.

About ten minutes later, a call from the front desk signaled Agent Coulson's arrival.

* * *

After Agent Coulson had been all caught up, his expression was thoughtful. "Do we have any ideas who it could be?"

Bruce and Tony exchanged a significant look behind Anelie, from their seats around the table.

Anelie just cocked an eyebrow, giving Agent Coulson a wry half-smile. "I think you already know."

Agent Coulson sighed. "You catch on fast."

Anelie just shrugged. "I am the only person my dad would lie for. When did _you_ know?"

"There was an unusually high amount of lightning and thunderstorms, directly over your property."

Anelie bit her lip. "And I thought I was being so sneaky." She rolled her eyes. "I'm sure you have questions. And I would rather answer them in the comfort of _my_ office, and not yours."

Phil opened his mouth speak, but what cut off by Bruce. "Aha! Told you I was right." When everyone turned to look at him, he smiled sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Is there a chance you getting this to work on someone who isn't infected?" Agent Coulson tapped the little jar containing the microchip.

Anelie took a deep breath, considering it. "No."

"But it would work if they were infected?"

"It might not be exactly the same, but theoretically yes." Anelie crossed her arms.

"And do you think you could do the procedure successfully? And help them adjust to their.. Ability?"

"Yes," Anelie stated slowly. "Do you have someone in mind, or..?"

Phil shook his head. "Not at the moment, but this could be considered a treatment for people inflicted with the disease."

_But at what cost?_ Anelie thought dryly. "I suppose. Well, you keep an eye our for them."

"Oh we are." Phil paused, as if he didn't know how to say something. "I was instructed to invite you to New York City to help with the Avenger's efforts. A scientist who goes by the name of Dr. Doom is... Well, trying to take over the world."

"Go figure." Anelie tapped her fingers against the wood of the desk, thinking it over.

Neither of the Avengers present were told about this beforehand, apparently. Tony was the first to speak. "Are you sure, Phil? It's not the safest work. She could get hurt."

Phil turned back to Anelie. "I'm sure Anelie can take of herself."

She was stunned, to say the least. _So _not how she had thought this would go. Anelie opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She tried again. "You want me to join your super secret boy band?" She nodded incredulously towards Bruce and Tony. They snickered.

Phil began to shake his head, but just nodded instead. "Not permanently, if you don't like it."

Anelie's confused expression turned to excitement. "Sounds like fun."

* * *

_XX"You will never get those years back and you can't put a price on them."__** -Tom Felton**__XX_

**AN: Yay for quick updates! I actually have about 19k words (A good ten more chapters) already written, but a lot of it is ****_all_**** shades of the highlighter tool for revision, so that's why it takes a little while to post. That, and I don't want to post it all at once. I want to at least always be a couple chapters ahead of what I've posted. (Also, I have a few sections of written stuff for parts of the story I haven't written yet.) Thanks guys, for all the lovely reviews! -MJ**


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